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It has been a while since I wrote the first part, much longer then I planned but as the saying goes: Man plans,God smiles… In the first part of the series I have described what is Bitlocker and how it works, now it’s time to get your hands dirty and implement it. As with any process, planning/preparing will increases the chances of success and in the case of Bitlocker it doesn’t really matter wether you plan to implement it on one system or one thousand systems some planning is necessary. Planning/preparing the process The preparations for Bitlocker implementation concentrate on … Continue reading BitLocker – Implementation (Part 2 of 3)

The fact that NT Backup is nowhere to be found on Vista and Windows 2008 disappointed me.Given, NT Backup wasn’t the tool of choice for backing up systems but I always had the comfortof knowing that it’s there in the background and that if I needed a quick and dirty solutionit would help me out… There are several solutions for this problem,one of them is to copy over a few files and haveNT Backup up and running again (not sure if this doesn’t violate the EULA though). A naggingquestion though is what happens if you ran a backup on Win2k3 … Continue reading Windows NT Backup – Restore Utility (Vista & Win2k8)

Microsoft® Remote Server Administration Tools enables IT administrators toremotely manage roles and features in Windows Server® 2008 from a computerrunning Windows Vista® with Service Pack 1 (SP1). Download

Yes I know,a bit late and no I don’t want to get a haircut(you know who you are). So after these cryptic messages do I have something new to tell you about this release?Not really,except that finally all those holding out until SP1 can finally install Vista andthat SP1 comes packed with a few new cool features (e.g. the ability to apply Bitlockerencryption to all volumes including flash based ones…). In addition to that you may also want take a look at the list of incompatible drivers thatmay block the SP from being installed:http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=948343 So if you have the time … Continue reading Windows Vista SP1 available (since Tuesday)

It was bound to happen. I even thought of doing it but obviously someonemanaged to beat me to it. For the full review (by X-bit labs)of how it preformed take a look at: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/apple-macbook-air.html

I will start with a disclaimer. I know, not a good way to start a post… I intend to write a series of posts about Bitlocker, starting with the theory and turning that theory into practical implementation. I am writing these posts based on my own personal research and knowledge. I have no connection to the people that wrote Bitlocker so I may make mistakes here…If I do,please send me a message or leave a comment pointing out the mistakes and I will make sure to fix them. I decided to write these posts since I couldn’t find any documentation … Continue reading Bitlocker – The Theory (Part 1 of 3)

This came as no surprise to me, yet when you see something theoretical being appliedit always manages to give you a jolt…especially if you consider the timing. During the last week I was (and still am) planning a series of posts about Bitlocker.In (very) short,Bitlocker is a Windows Vista technology that encrypts your hard drive as a unit. To access the data you need to provide some type of a key that releases the key used to decrypt (and encrypt) your data into RAM. The main advantage of Bitlocker is it’s ability to protect your data even if someone managesto … Continue reading Frozen RAM and Bitlocker (can it be defeated?)

Based on a post from the TechNet Plus team SP1 for vista is available for subscribers. In additionto that it is also available to MSDN subscribers:

After thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that this deserves a post of it’s own. The installation process of SP1 for Vista backs up all the files that it replaces to allow you to uninstall it.  If you are in dire need of free disk space you can use an integrated tool called Vsp1clean.exe (aka SP1 File Removal Tool). This tool will remove all the files that the installation backed up providing you with the additional disk space at the price of not being able to uninstall the service pack. So we will start with a copy of … Continue reading Reclaiming disk space after Vista SP1 installation

So since SP1 is finally final, I started playing around with it. One of the most importantfeatures for me was the ability to deploy it. So,wanting to hear it from the horses mouth,I downloaded the Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals. After going over it I found a few points that surprised me: No option to slipstream. Integrating the SP into the OS is not possible althougha version that will have SP1 integrated will be made available (?!?). The SP can not be applied to an offline copy of Windows. This is kind of obviousif you read the previous … Continue reading Vista SP1 deployment rants…